Chiff and Fipple Forums

I am in the market to buy a low d whistle, not made of plastic, and one that is not too "breathy". I want a good one so I am not shopping based on price. I am not concerned whether it is tunable or not. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

Burke might suit the bill.

Michael Burke's low D is dependably excellent.

Reviol, Lofgren, Lambe, Copeland, Carbony, Reyburn, Burke, Goldie, Bracker, etc... Really depends on your own personal taste. There are dozens that fit your criteria and I'm sure that for each one there are several here who love it and several who dislike it. The only way to know is to try one out to see if it is for you or not. Or, at very least, narrow down the criteria a bit.

Let's not forget the Resonance low-d by Ralph Sweet !

If everyone liked the same low D as everyone else, all the other makers would very quickly go out of business through lack of orders.

So ...

Try to get to play a few different whistles at a shop / festival.
Try to find out what whsitles are played by the players you particularly like the sound of.
Don't be afraid to buy one and then sell it if it doesn't work for you.

And ... Colin Goldie is the correct answer. For me, that is, not necessarily for you.

Have you ever played a low d Mr. Chubby Checker with one post ?

Hi and welcome - any relation to Ernest Evans is welcome here.....

There is a lot of discussion of whistles on here, so you are likely to get more help than you ever expected - we are a friendly bunch - but it would help us to focus if you added some details.

• What musical instruments do you play?
• What low D's have you tried? (And it does not matter if you have not played any - I started with the low D)
• What did you like/dislike about them?
• Why not plastic (I prefer non-plastic but there are some excellent plastic whistles out there)
• What sort of music do you want to play (just curious)

I play Bleazey (wood, a little bit challenging to play, lovely sound, easy balanced octaves) and Copeland (lovely sound, easy to play, expensive and difficult to find)

You might want to consider whether you want the whistle to be free-blowing and use more breath, or use less breath but require more blowing pressure like the difference between blowing down a wide and a narrow straw. That would certainly reduce your list of possible options.

trill wrote:Let's not forget the Resonance low-d by Ralph Sweet !

I'll second that. Mine has a very flute like tone, is easy to finger and plays the full two octaves easily.
Colin Goldies whistles are also terrific, but VERY different in terms of sound and breath requirements.

Colin Goldie's whistles are . . . VERY different in terms of . . . breath requirements.

We have to be careful about categorising Colin's whistles. They vary so much. To begin with he makes each key in a variety of "strengths" from soft blower to hard blower, from higher to lower air requirements. But then he will also respond to a player's particular requirements. Right now he's building me a whistle that should have modest air requirements but that, like the Resonance, plays two octaves easily.

Mikethebook wrote:You might want to consider whether you want the whistle to be free-blowing and use more breath, or use less breath but require more blowing pressure like the difference between blowing down a wide and a narrow straw. That would certainly reduce your list of possible options.

Hi tin whistle gang,
Thanks for raising great points I hadn't thought of. I have only played a regular (non-low) D from Oak so far. I play moderate to fast jigs and reels. My main concern is avoiding a low D that is too breathy and/or requires too much air. Do any particular whistle makes/models come to mind based on this new info?

If you're playing jigs and reels then air requirements aren't too crucial since there are plenty of opportunities to take a breath. Breathiness is a relative term but avoid the Shaw Low D which is very breathy and takes lots of air. Beyond that, there is still plenty of choice. Burke and Bracker use more air than average but tend towards a pure tone if you like that. A soft blowing Goldie would be my choice, quite economical when it comes to breath but with a tone that isn't too breathy in my opinion . . . but you need to listen to examples if you can on YouTube for example. Lofgren is similar. Lambe and Reviol are great for playing high in the second octave but tend towards a weaker first octave. If it's jigs and reels mainly then you possibly don't need to play too high in the second octave. You might also consider an MK Pro that many people favour but you need to make your own decision as to what is too breathy and what isn't.

chubbychecker wrote: I am not shopping based on price

Lucky man

For what my opinion is worth (and I am no expert) it seems to me that there are two things that you might need to learn. In the short term you should probably learn the 'Super-EZ-grip' (sometimes known as 'pipers grip'). For that any reasonable whistle would do. In the long term you need to learn what you want from a low D whistle. That will take time and money. I have seen people bandy all sorts of words around - flutey, breathy, mellow, responsive, easy-blower, ad nauseam.... None of it meant diddly-squat to me until I started playing. Once I could play a bit, then I went looking for whistles I liked (actually that is a bit of a lie - I did waste some money before I knew what I was doing). Tried a few and settled on the ones I have. I dont think that I have even been tempted by a whistle purchase for two, three, four years. (MODS: am I allowed to admit this in public? Or have I just 'fessed up to WHOAD police?)

So, for short term I would recommend getting anything reasonably easy to play and learning on it - for this I would recommend the Dixon tapered bore even though it is plastic - I wish I had learned on one. You don't have to play it for ever, but I bet you wont sell it in a hurry. If when you sell it you wont lose much. I am not a fan of plastic whistles, but it is so dam easy to play that I still have mine. I will pass it on to step-grandson if and when he wants one. When you feel competent then its time to explore - it would be a shame to lose money rejecting a whistle that you did not appreciate, just to buy it again later when your skill had advanced (DAMHIKT). If you hang around this forum long enough, you could join the 'feeding chain' buying the whistles others have tried and not clicked with. Or you could buy new high end whistles and sell the ones you don't like into the feeding chain.

You could listen to lots of recordings of different whistles, but my undeveloped ear found this very misleading.

Anyone have an opinion on the Chieftain Low D Thunderbird? Sounds tempting.